Business Essentials

Sales isn't just about turning up and relying on your instinct or other skills. Each customer is different with his or her own wants and needs, and you need to prepare for each one. Rachel Bourke of SalesSPACE says salespeople should go through checklists before even stepping into a sales meeting. Rachel's sales meeting preparation pack includes a personal checklist to ensure you look the part and...

Extensive research indicates that people who are optimistic are better business leaders – they’re more resilient, they innovate better, strategise better, and they even live longer. So, how do we become more optimistic? Victor Perton is founder of The Centre for Optimism and teaches organisations across the world how develop their optimistic competencies. It comes down to shifting your attention,...

How can you expect to please your customers when you’re determined to keep correcting them? It's easy to fall into the trap of being right, says professional speaker on customer service Martin Grunstein, but that's not what the customer is looking for from you. Martin has examples of sales staff correcting their customers, and of companies enforcing rules that could be pushing people away. Busines...

When Colleen Callander was CEO of Sportsgirl, she was burnt out: she’d been doing too much, saying yes to everything, and did nothing but work. These days she helps other women avoid burnout and achieve greater success in life and business. She’s Founder of Mentor Me, and has written a book with fellow business coach, Shannah Kennedy, titled ‘Elevate: unlock your extraordinary potential’. She disc...

Imagine setting yourself the challenge to run 250 km in the searing heat of outback Australia. What lessons would you learn about yourself and how could you apply them to your life and business? That’s what Kay Bretz set out to discover with his first ultramarathon – the Big Red Run in Birdsville – where he beat the race record by five hours. He’s since run multiple ultra-distances and was awarded...

Business plans are traditionally too expensive, they take too much time, they’re too rigid, and they’re not properly implemented. Roy Osing, former president of TELUS, advises on a strategic game plan with a rule of three: focus on the three things that will produce 80% of your results. Beware though of being diverted by what he calls the “yummy incoming”, the distractions that will pull you away...

How do you stand out from competitors? After all, it’s the ultimate goal – to differentiate your business in a way that builds engagement and brand loyalty. Well, sales and marketing guru Tom Poland may just have the answer with his marketing message formula. He says your message needs three elements to succeed: it must be benefit-rich, contain specifics and be differentiated. Business Essentials...

Research shows that more people are becoming disengaged with their work. Why is that? And as a boss, how do you motivate your own team to perform at their best? Performance and leadership coach, Dan Haesler, has worked closely with elite athletes and corporate leaders. His new book, ‘The Act of Leadership’ offers practical, techniques for leaders to get the most out of their people. Business Essen...

Retail is changing rapidly, with the more successful businesses heading, down an ‘omnichannel’ road. Retail expert and Hatch Brands CEO, Todd Foot, specialises in omnichannel marketing and discuses the evolution of combining online, and brick-and-mortar stores. He also highlights consumer advantages, like being able to browse online catalogues, check in-store stock availability, and access same-da...

If you were asked to nominate the qualities of the people you most admire, what would be top of the list? Storyteller and star-maker, Colin Pearce was curious to find out, and the results of a subsequent survey of three thousand Australians and New Zealanders astounded him. Reference: The Character Works Series by Colin Pearce   Business Essentials Daily is produced by: SoundCartel soundcartel.com...

It’s not called ‘the silly season’ for nothing. The end-of-year party is meant to be a time to celebrate and recognise a job well done. But a well-meaning reward could turn into a legal nightmare, warns Business Lawyer Tracey Mylecharane. When you add free-flowing booze into the mix, your business could well be facing repercussions the next day. Tracey provides examples of what could go wrong, if...

Simone Tsigolis saw a gap in the home-cleaning market: time-poor and exhausted families returning from overseas trips. That was just before Covid hit. She then pivoted her high-quality cleaning service, Jetlag Remedy, and has seen sales soar beyond $3 million. She puts it down to the quality and dedication of her 45 professional cleaning staff, whom she hires with a unique onboarding process. The...

UGRs or Unwritten Ground Rules, drive people’s attitudes and performance in the workplace - but they’re seldom talked about openly and you may have no idea what’s going on without your knowledge or understanding. Steve Simpson can help. He created the UGR concept and has been telling businesses for years that, good or bad, they’re fundamental to company culture and to success. Business Essentials...

Our preoccupation with making ends meet, paying the bills, the wages, sorting out stock levels and generally keeping the lights on may lead us to overlook the fundamental reasons why people do business with us. It’s our ASSETS, says Author, Trainer, and all-round storyteller Colin Pearce, and he means it in a very personal way.   Business Essentials Daily is produced by: SoundCartel soundcartel.co...

Don’t have the time or inclination to help develop the people around you into leaders? Think again. As a business owner or manager, you've got an important role to play in helping those around you become leaders too. Your business will benefit! But there will be recalcitrant players among them. Anneli Blundell, co-author of 'Developing Direct Reports: Taking the guesswork out of leading leaders',...

The convenience of listening or reading almost anything from your hand-held device is convenient, simple and it’s big business. Steve Potash is CEO of OverDrive, the largest distributor of ebooks and audiobooks to libraries in the United States. OverDrive began in the mid-1980s by digitising reference books and documents for law firms. Today, as he expands overseas, including Australia, he discuss...

Some people come to work full of beans ready to take on the world, while others can’t get going without beans – coffee, that is. Productivity expert Les Watson encourages bosses to take their employees’ chronotypes into consideration when it comes to their peak performance. Early birds work best in the morning, he says, while night owls are better later in the day. Les is a big believer in setting...

There’s nothing good about bad bosses. Often, they are the reason a workplace is toxic, they can lead team members to suffer stress and mental health problems, and they’re the cause of staff turnover. However, bad bosses are not necessarily bad people – and they can learn to be good or even great. That’s according to workplace expert, Michelle Gibbings, who shares lessons from her book, ‘Bad Boss:...

The CEO of Hatch Brands, Todd Foot, is carving an impressive niche into the e-commerce landscape. With his focus on acquiring and investing in ‘Mum-and-Dad’ small businesses, particularly those in the homewares space, Todd discusses his strategies to help these businesses thrive in the digital age. He emphasizes the importance of e-commerce and highlights common pitfalls and missed opportunities i...

What if business owners and managers treated their staff like… humans? Well as far as Mark LeBusque is concerned, not enough workplaces run with humans in mind, expecting a more robotic type response. Mark is a Harvard-trained consultant, author and Founder & Director of The Human Manager. And he has 7 steps to become human managers, with the goal of enabling staff to shine and businesses to g...

What do Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus, Serena Williams and Victoria Beckham have in common? Aside from being mega-rich celebrities, they are all fans of entrepreneur Olivia Carr’s brand Shhh Silk. Olivia didn’t have a huge marketing budget when she launched her online marketplace of silk pillow cases; instead, she harnessed the power of public relations. For instance, she flew to Los Angeles to pers...

The majority of organisations are too myopic in their sales strategy, pushing monthly or quarterly goals. Sales teams need to understand and embrace the company’s long-term strategy for effective sales. That’s according to Roy Osing, former president of Canadian telco TELUS, who introduced a ‘customer report card’ to refocus sales teams on nurturing the customer rather than foisting pushy sales te...

Everyone has a role to play in a winning team — and leadership is an important part of that. Having played 378 games for the Essendon Football Club, footy legend Simon Madden has proven his mettle on the field both as a player and as a leader. And now, as founder of Simon Madden Consulting, Simon advises organisations on how to build winning teams. He says if you can improve your people, you can i...

Colleen Callander is a self-confessed recovering workaholic. Indeed, her hard work, street smarts and passion for retail catapulted her to the heights of CEO at Sportsgirl and Sussan. But, on the way to the top, she had faced burnout by saying yes to everything and not giving herself a moment to stop and recharge. Today she understands the importance of setting boundaries to maintain physical and...

In 2005, Rachael Robertson gave up the comforts of home to lead a team of fellow expeditioners to Antarctica. After managing a small group for 12 months, in the depths of a dark, ice-cold winter, the research highlighted acutely that respect drives the highest performing teams. She outlines her thoughts and findings in her new book, 'Respect Trumps Harmony: why being liked is overrated and constru...